10 He said to them, "Yahweh be with you if I will let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Let the Lord be so with you. I am surprised that this passage, so clear in itself, should be violently wrested by the interpreters. [1] Some thus expound it, -- "I would that God may not otherwise favor you, than as I am determined to let you go;" while others think that it was spoken deceitfully, as though he had commended them to God after their departure. I will not adduce the opinions of all, nor is it necessary. I have no doubt that it was an ironical sneer, whereby he insults, at the same time, both God and them; as if he had said, "You boast that God is on your side; experience will prove this, if I shall let you go." Thus, then, establishing himself as the supreme judge as to their departure, and claiming to himself the power of forbidding and preventing them from going, he derides their confidence, because, in demanding their free dismissal, they profess to do so under the auspices and by the command of God; just as if he had said, "If I do not hinder you, then you may reasonably pretend that Jehovah is the guide of your journey." In this way he wantonly provokes God, and denies that He is able so to aid His people as to prevent his own power from prevailing to resist Him. Thus the reprobate, after having been troubled in themselves, sometimes burst forth with ravings of contempt against God, as if they were well secured from all dangers, and counting for nothing the aid which God has promised to give to His own people, fearlessly ridicule the simplicity of their faith. Again, in the second clause of the verse, many, as it appears to me, raise unnecessary difficulties. Some gather from it this sense, -- "The evil which you are planning shall happen to yourselves, and shall be turned against your own faces." Others think that it is a comparison taken from a target, because the Israelites were looking steadfastly at nothing but ill-doing. [2] But I do not doubt that Pharaoh, after having set his tyrannical prohibitions in array against God, now threatens them, to inspire them with terror. He says, therefore, that evil awaits the Israelites, and is, as it were, held up before their eyes, because they are about to suffer the penalty of their rashness. Thus he signifies that the help of God, in which they confide for protection, is either evanescent or will profit them nothing. But when he says, "Look to it," he indirectly taunts them; because, in their reliance on God's assistance, they are rushing inconsiderately on their ruin. The conclusion is, that they were ill-advised as to their own interests in making these attempts, and that they foolishly or incautiously trusted to the protection of God.
1 - In commenting on this verse, C. alludes to interpretations not noticed by S.M. -- W. The gloss in the Geneva Bible is, "I would the Lord were no more affectioned toward you than I am minded to let you go."
2 - "Les Israelites ne regardent, et ne tendent qu'a real faire, come les archiers dressent les yeux a leur but;" they have no other object or intention but do wrong, and (have their eyes as steadfastly set upon it) as archers fix theirs on the butt. -- Fr.
Evil is before you - i. e. "your intentions are evil." Great as the possible infliction might be, Pharaoh held it to be a less evil than the loss of so large a population.
Let the Lord be so with you - This is an obscure sentence. Some suppose that Pharaoh meant it as a curse, as if he had said, "May your God be as surely with you, as I shall let you go!" For as he purposed not to permit them to go, so he wished them as much of the Divine help as they should have of his permission.
Look - for evil is before you - ראו כי רעה נגד פניכם reu ki raah neged peneychem, See ye that evil is before your faces - if you attempt to go, ye shall meet with the punishment ye deserve. Probably Pharaoh intended to insinuate that they had some sinister designs, and that they wished to go in a body that they might the better accomplish their purpose; but if they had no such designs they would be contented for the males to go, and leave their wives and children behind: for he well knew if the men went and left their families they would infallibly return, but that if he permitted them to take their families with them, they would undoubtedly make their escape; therefore he says, Exodus 10:11, Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord.
And he said unto them, Let (d) the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look [to it]; for (e) evil [is] before you.
(d) That is, I hope the degree of affection that the Lord has for you is no more than the degree to which I want to let you go.
(e) Punishment is prepared for you. Some read, "You intend some mischief".
And he said unto them, let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones,.... Either as mocking them, let the Lord you talk of be with you if he will, and let him deliver you if he can, as I shall let you go with your children, which I never will; or as wishing them ill, that the Lord their God may be with them, as he should dismiss them on their proposal, that is, not at all; he wishes they might never have the presence of the Lord, or receive any from him, till he should dismiss them, which he was determined never to do in the manner they desired; and therefore the sum of his wish or imprecation is, that they might never enjoy any benefits from the Lord; the first sense seems to be best:
look to it, for evil is before you; which is either a charge of sin upon them, that they had an evil design upon him, and intended to raise a mutiny, make an insurrection, and form a rebellion against him; or a threatening to inflict the evil of punishment upon them, if they would not comply with his terms; and it is as if he should say, be it at your peril if you offer to go away in any other manner than it is my pleasure.
Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones - He now curses and threatens them, in case they offered to remove their little ones, telling them it was at their peril. Satan doth all he can to hinder those that serve God themselves, from bringing their children in to serve him. He is a sworn enemy to early piety, knowing how destructive it is to the interests of his kingdom.
*More commentary available at chapter level.